Bob the Builder voice William Dufris dead

\'Bob the Builder\' star William Dufris has passed away.

The voice actor behind the children\'s cartoon in the US and Canada lost his battle with cancer on Wednesday (25.03.20) at the age of 62.

It was announced on Twitter by members of William\'s production company Pocket Universe Productions, who were left "heartbroken" over his death.

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They wrote: "We are heartbroken to announce that the co-founder of @pocketplot and the director of "EC Comics Presents... The Vault of Horror", William Dufris, has died from cancer

"There is a hole in a lot of people\'s hearts right now. We will have more to say later. Bless you, Bill (sic)"

William began his career in London starring in BBC Radio plays alongside the likes of Kathleen Turner and Helena Bonham-Carter, and contributed to the audio drama productions of \'Spiderman\', \'Judge Dredd\', \'Voyage\' and \'An American Werewolf in London\'.

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He then landed his most famous role as the original voice of \'Bob the Builder\' in 2001 for nine seasons, and was also credited with voicing a number of other characters, including Farmer Pickles, Mr. Beaslet, and Mr. Sabatini.

The children\'s show was created in the UK by Keith Chapman and was originally voiced by Neil Morrissey.

It was sold to US toy giants Mattel for $680 million in 2011 and was revamped in 2014 with a complete overhaul of the cast.

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William - co-founded a number of audio production companies and dubbed several anime films such as \'X\', \'Appleseed\' and two of the \'Lupin III\' films - left the show in 2006 when co-creator Sarah Bell moved on with the voice of Bob, then performed by comedian Greg Proops.